I’m also not referring to a cute 10-year difference. I’m talking about a honking great, could-be-your-parent age gap. What could these pairings possibly have in common? What do they talk about? What attracted them to one another (apart from the thing that rhymes with ‘honey’)?

Science has answers, in the form of ‘the George Clooney effect’. This theory highlights men who choose independent, educated and, less to the point, taller partners. But it’s also used to describe the attraction younger women have for older men.

There is a big age difference between Playboy founder Hugh Hefner and his wife Crystal Harris.Source:Supplied

That, dear readers, is why I’ve gathered you here today. You see, I’m just not picking up what they’re putting down. Before you grab your pitchfork, I have a few friends whose parents have quite the age gap, but are happy as Larry, 30 years in. Very enjoyment. Much marriage. But as lovely as I’m sure those aged-like-a-fine-wine men are out there, I have zero interest in dating someone old enough to be my father. (Hi, Dad! Thanks for reading.)

Amal Clooney, wife of the namesake of this extremely scientific effect, is crazy-smart, super-successful and ravishingly beautiful. I’m not questioning why George put a ring on it. He obviously liked it. But she is 17 years younger. So, while I’m sure they have a lot in common and slouch around every night in a decadently decorated library, counting their money, I do wonder what the attraction is in a partner nearly two decades older.

In the past, Clooney has dated actors Lisa Snowdon (11 years younger), Elisabetta Canalis (18 years younger) and Stacy Keibler (19 years younger). There’s no question the actor loves a fresh filly (note to self: never say “fresh filly” again). But it’s also clear these women are members of the club of ladies who love the older lads.

Stacy Keibler is 19 years younger and significantly taller than George Clooney.Source:Getty Images

A 2010 study by Scottish psychologists – which created the term in question – found that younger, more financially independent women were attracted to older men, but said men still had to be handsome. If being a silver fox was the clincher, I get why these women were drawn to Clooney. Not so much do I understand Courtney Stodden’s reasons, in 2011, for marrying then 50-year-old actor Doug Hutchison. Stodden was 16. A story for another time, perhaps.

Apart from physical looks, what’s the allure? Funny you ask that, Mel. The research found that women like the fact that, as men get older, they are still able to father children, they’ve had more time to accumulate wealth (I ain’t sayin’ she a gold-digger…), and they are more “emotionally stable”.

In September, psychologists at Åbo Akademi University in Turku, Finland, surveyed 12,000 locals and found that women preferred “same-aged to somewhat older” men during their lifetime. Interestingly (or not), the men had an ongoing interest in women in their mid-twenties. Yes, for their whole lives, mid-twenties continues to be the magic bracket.

Woody Allen is old enough to be Soon Yi Previn’s father.Source:Getty Images

Well, soz, mate, but it’s a swipe to the left from this woman in her mid-twenties. Is there something wrong with me? A quick run around the office confirmed I wasn’t alone in such same-age inclinations.

“I’d feel more comfortable with someone at a similar stage of life, with a similar amount of life experience,” my first colleague says.

But Anonymous Colleague Number Two rightly points out, “Older is not unattractive – love is love! I was a little freaked out by Mary-Kate Olsen [29] and Olivier Sarkozy [46] at first, but now I think I’m fine with it. Little gold-digger girls with 80-year-old men are a bit gross, though.”

Number Three mentions the off-putting saggy behind (like that Sex and the City episode where Samantha Jones starts dating a man who’s “a young 72”) of a past partner.

But Number Four says that, before age comes into it, attraction is due to the milestones that have been accomplished. This tends to lead her towards partners sometimes 10 years older. “I like a worldly, intelligent, charismatic type,” she says. “In a younger man, those characteristics just seem egotistical.”

Last June, Jesse Fink gave his thoughts on the subject from the male perspective. His reason for slinging a noticeably younger lady over his shoulder? Well, “because we can”. Honesty is the best policy.

“Vanity. Insecurity. Shallowness. Yes, I put my hand up,” he began. “People respond to you better when you have a beautiful woman beside you. They look at you differently. ‘You score chicks like her? You’re an enigmatic, redoubtable genius.’”

Hold up, didn’t the research say older guys are more emotionally stable?

Kiss frontman Gene Simmons said, while promoting his latest book, Me, Inc, “Women should not marry young men because they don’t have money yet and they can’t support you. The first thing [men] need is money.”

Donald Trump and Melania Knauss Trump have a big difference in their ages.Source:AFP

Is it all down to age, money and power then? Is that the look of love Dusty Springfield was singing about? Don’t get me wrong – those attributes are great but, to me, the battlefield of love has to be on level terrain. I want to be on the same level as my totes rich and powerful partner. I’m all about equality (#feminism), and there isn’t anything equal about a guy who’s done double the living, has double the money and, perhaps thus, double the power.

Let’s switch the genders and talk about me for a moment (finally). If I were to Do A Clooney, so to speak, and go for someone 17 years my junior, Future Hubby has just started kindergarten. He might know how to count to 10 by now, but I’m not sure. So it’s a no to older guys and (sorry, Madonna) no to the crazy-young ones, too.

[Caution: clichés ahead] At the end of the day, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Still, no matter how beautiful the man is, Clooney included, this young lass isn’t paddling in the elderly swimming pool of life any time soon